“Amma” screamed Radha. Why you did not wake me up early? See
I have to go for walk and get ready and go to office on time. Now everything is
spoiled.
“You slept late Radha that’s why I did not wake you up. See
you look tired even now!” , said Amma with a worried look on her face.
“Now don’t give that sorry look Amma. You just have some excuse for not doing what
I say. Thanks for that great help. I would go get ready now and know that you
have spoiled my day.” saying this Radha stormed to get ready.
“Why can’t you just leave a message to your boss saying you
will be half an hour late and get ready calmly”, said Amma. But Radha did not
pay any attention.
“Can you help me connecting the laptop” asked Appa.
“Appa can’t you see I am getting late. Please don’t ask me
anything now” said Radha
Radha got ready and came out said bye to amma. Amma said eat
and give me some time to pack your breakfast.
“Not required, you will take your own sweet time to cook. I
can eat outside and for your information I am getting late”. Saying this Radha
ran outside to catch an auto.
“Say bye to all Radhaaaa”, screamed amma.
“Oh am already late and I have to comply with all the
formalities. Bye all”. Radha screamed back.
What a way to start the day! All because of mom, thought
Radha. If only she could have given me a proper wake up call, I would not have
to go through all this irritation.
With these thoughts in her mind she went to catch an auto.
She stopped an auto asked the driver stating her destination
which was 3 kms away.
You need to pay me Rs. 200 to get there said the auto driver
(well welcome to Chennai, where auto’s
run well but their meters don’t!)
“Whattttt!!!!!!... Rs. 200”, screamed Radha.” Don’t you guys
ever change? Why do you cheat and loot the general public?”
“Petrol hiked madam and why are you shouting at me in the
morning? I am not the only one to ask. If you can, you give or catch another
auto. You won’t get any and you would suffer” retorted the auto driver.
“Just Get Lost! I would rather walk than paying you”
screamed Radha
And she started walking. Nothing seems to go right today. I
hate this life thought Radha
She walked after some time she got an auto and grudgingly
paid Rs. 100 to get to office. Useless auto drivers spoiling my mood and day
thought Radha.
Once she reached office she opened her office mail. She saw
she never got replies to all those reminder mails she had sent last week.
“Oh my God, brilliant, now I have to keep a reminder list to
send second reminder mails to all those folks who just can’t reply to one
single mail. No courtesy, no sincerity. Irritating” thought Radha.
**Tring Tring**, rang her extension flashing the name of her
colleague Geetha.
“Oh the drama queen has now called” thought Radha and picked
the call.
“Hello, Radha. I just saw your reminder mail that I have to
complete certain work. Who are you to say that?
I have served more number of years in this company than you” screamed
her colleague.
(Well this lady had
all the energy to shout but did not have enough energy to complete her task!!)
“Hello Geetha, listen it’s my job to track the progress of
the work and I am just doing my duty. And if you have concerns you speak to
higher ups why are you shouting?. I would send reminder mails. And you don’t
have courtesy to reply to any. And you would not give any explanation and who
is being questioned. Remember that I would be the one who has to answer those
questions ” said Radha
“I don’t have to report to you Radha. You don’t set my
priorities. I can’t be replying to all mails” retorted Geetha
(Well yes, Geetha does
have other better works like cribbing about her mother in law at office! Well
if one has such interesting works how would they find time to reply to office
mails at office!! )
Radha was now on the verge of losing her temper, “See you
are not getting the point Geetha. Am doing my work and I am being questioned.
So you need to give me the details. That doesn’t mean am setting your
priorities......”
And the conversation went on for another 45 minutes.
“There is no point. Am just ending this call Geetha” said
Radha and ended the call.
This day is JUST NOT FINE.
Radha stormed out of the office finally with heavy heart and
severe head ache. She rushed back home. Amma welcomed her back with her
beautiful smile as ever.
“Dinner is ready” she said.
“Ok Amma” said Radha in a dull tone. She saw her mobile
while her dinner was being served and saw her mother’s message this morning
“Dear daughter. Don’t
worry the day will be good sweety. Keep smiling”
“Amma, sorry I did not see your message this morning. Are
you angry with me?” said Radha hugging her mother.
“No sweety, I knew you had a hectic day” said amma. Then she
said “see had you given this hug this morning your day would have been better” J said Amma smiling.
Radha was taken aback.
“I will do that
tomorrow amma. “ said Radha
“Sleep on time today Radha. I would wake you up early
tomorrow” said amma with a sweet smile.
Radha went to bed thinking of her day.
She cannot stop the
running time
She cannot change the
auto driver’s attitude.
She cannot make all
her colleagues learn what courtesy is
She cannot control or
change Geetha’s behaviour
So what can she do?
The only thing she
could do and was in her control was her own way of handling things. So as of
now let me try to sleep early and get up on time thought Radha
Next day Radha got up early. She went for her morning walk
hearing her favourite songs.
When she came back she saw her dad struggling with
connecting the laptop.
“Appa, I will do it” said smiling Radha.
“Thanks Radha” said appa smiling.
“Amma, I will go get ready. Is the breakfast ready?”
“Oh I am yet to finish the sambar. I got up late Radha” said
amma.
“It’s ok amma. No problem I will eat outside. “, said Radha
hugging her mother.
She came out to catch the auto. Well yet again there was
this auto driver who asked Rs. 250.
Radha smiled and replied. “Great brother, you are really
better than the driver yesterday who asked Rs. 200. But unfortunately am not
that rich to pay you. You will get a better passenger who can afford to pay you
what you seek. Have a good day”
The auto driver was taken aback. And started to go away but
changed his mind.
He called back, “Sister, I am sorry, I know I asked more. I
will put meter. Can you please give me some extra. You are my first passenger
for the day.”
“Sure”, said smiling Radha and went to office.
She reached office and saw that some of her colleagues had
still not replied to their mails.
“Wow interesting now the late they reply, the stronger is my position because I have
done my work” thought radha mentally thanking her colleagues for giving her
some buffer time in which she can do other tasks.
She smiled and drafted a common reminder mail, “Dear
Colleagues, I understand you are too busy but I am sure you would complete this
and intimate me. Thanks for your support in advance and wishing you a good day”
She pressed the send button and with a smile started her
work. She found she could complete her work much faster than yesterday because
she was peaceful.
**Tring Tring** rang her extension flashing the name of her favourite colleague “Ms. Drama Queen Geetha”
Radha smiled thinking that this is now going to be fun.
“Radhaaaa”, screamed Geetha. “Despite telling you so much you have the audacity to
send a mail to me today”
Radha said in a calm voice. “I am doing my work Geetha”
“You don’t teach me what to do. You cannot mail and I just
don’t care about your mail” started Geetha
“Sorry to interrupt you Geetha. I can understand you have
not completed the work and you can take your time and intimate once you have done
it. And you would definitely get my
mails because it is part of my work profile to ensure things are going in the
right phase. So I guess we should not be wasting our time on discussing these
things. Because anyway I am not going to stop my mails so why you should waste
time discussing that with me? Why can’t you take it up with your boss and
remove your work areas from my tracking list if it is getting into your nerves?
J. And by the way on a
lighter note if you really don’t care about my mail you would not be calling my
extension. Have a good day lady J
and please check your BP. You really
seem to be stressed out. Take rest. Take care”
And with a broad smile Radha kept her phone back.
After some time another colleague came to Radha and said “Do
you know, Geetha is talking bad about
you. She is telling a bunch of people in the canteen that you are trying to be
authoritative and you are trying to impress your boss to get promotion. I think
you should confront her and put her in place”
“Well if she is talking about me then it means she obviously
finds my life more interesting than hers. And this really confirms that I am a
step ahead of her” J
Saying this Radha went to the white board placed in her work
area and wrote the Eleanor Roosevelt Quote
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss
events; small minds discuss people."
When she finished writing and turned, she saw Geetha and her
friends walking in. Geetha’s face turned red with anger when she saw the quote.
Radha flashed the victory smile at Geetha and walked away
with her head held high.
(How entertaining it
is to smile when the other person expects you to be enragedJ
)
This was indeed a good day. Life is beautiful thought Radha
Back home she had dinner in peace and went to sleep.
She was thinking about the day. The characters whom she met
yesterday and today were same. The external situation had not changed a bit. In
fact she even had some people gossiping
about her but still the day went perfect.
“How come?”, thought Radha
Morning breakfast was
not ready, but the way she handled it made the difference.
Appa was still struggling
to connect the laptop, but helping him made the difference.
The auto fellow still
asked exorbitant fare, but the way of handling it made the difference.
(The auto driver turned out to be a good fellow but what if
he had just left? “Well I would have just found another auto. But at least I
did not let that spoil my mood” thought Radha.)
Did all her colleagues
learnt courtesy and replied to her mails? No, but the way she handled it made
the difference.
Did Geetha change? Absolutely
not! But not allowing it to disturb the inner peace made the difference.
“Why are you smiling Radha” asked amma smiling back.
“To get your smile back Amma. Goodnight” said Radha hugging
her mother with a final realization that how she perceive or take the incidents
around her is purely a reflection of her own inner state of mind
After all what we see is a mere Reflection J yes a mere reflection
!!!
Great story mam. Great moral. "Don't let external factors spoil your inner peace " Awesome mam.. Great work ❤
ReplyDeleteThank you Madhu
DeleteThank you Madhu
DeleteGood one👍
ReplyDelete